Bringing It All Back Home

"You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last.
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast"

To quote Michelle Obama, for the first time in my adult life I am truly proud of my country tonight, for this is a historic day that posterity will revisit with a sense of pride--a day when black, Hispanic, Asian , indeed all of America's children, can see the promise of America as one that includes their hopes, dreams and aspirations. On June 4, 2008 all American children can wake up and look in the mirror and say, "Someday I can run for President of the United States," and it won't be some empty platitude but a tangible reality embodied by Barack Obama, the first non-Caucasian to win the nomination of a major political party, as well as Hillary Clinton, who despite some misguided and inexcusable conduct both by her and her surrogates, removed any doubt that American sexists have about the fortitude of female candidates. Despite the reality that Hillary got to this point in large part because of her husband's accomplishments, she nonetheless showed herself to be a strong candidate who, quite frankly, has more character than her husband, and she certainly--and rightfully--will be known as the woman who kicked down the door and shattered the glass ceiling that has confined female politicians in our society.

Clinton lost this primary not because she is a flawed candidate but because she got outplayed, out hustled, and definitely out coached by an Obama team that was built to compete in 50 states, utilizing the Internet and prodigious ground forces to vanquish a Clinton machine that was put in the hands of neophytes like Patti Solis Doyle and greed-obsessed egomaniacs like Mark Penn instead of veteran strategists like James Carville, who was left on the CNN pundit sidelines, valiantly whining about Billary's plight. The younger, hungrier team stood up to the champions and punched them in the mouth. Obama wasn't given anything in this campaign, as he was attacked ruthlessly by the GOP, Billary, and a press that played the race card itself, pouncing on any footage of "angry black men" such as Reverend Wright, whom they knew would stir up viewers and drive up their ratings--thus, the endless reels of Obama pastors while McCain's pastors' much more disturbingly racist rhetoric was barely acknowledged.

"The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence."

Barack Obama now has to get down to the serious business of running a tough general election campaign in which he is starting out 20 states behind because so much of this country are backwards, uneducated racists; that's an unpleasant thing to say, but it's the only reason that explains why in a generic match-up the Democrats beat the Republicans by 20% but when Obama's name is matched with McCain it's an even race. If ever there was a year that the Dems should sweep everything it's 2008: The country is in the worst economic shape since the Depression and people are desperate to turn the page on the failed policies and embarrassing ignorance of Bush. However, even in this climate a black man named Barack Obama is no sure thing. He is the clear underdog in this race, baffling as that may sound.

"Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you.
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you."


Obama needs to hammer McCain relentlessly on the issues, which McCain is out of step with pretty much all Americans, except guys like him--old, white redneck racists(his base):

McCain believes the following:

1. Abortion should be outlawed in all cases under the Republican platform. This alone will prevent any true Hillary feminist from voting for McCain. McCain has no regard for women's rights.

2. We should have a presence in Iraq for 100 years and continue to fight a war in which we cannot even define an exit strategy, let alone "victory"
Obama TV commercials should mock McCain's "visit" to a "safe" market in Iraq, surrounded by troops, tanks, Blackhawks. Obama should go visit the troops, where he will be treated like a rock star by the many black men in women in uniform so that he can show his support as well as the dire condition the country is really in. He should challenge McCain to define progress when he can't visit the country without a small army to protect him. The bottom line will be that the war is a quagmire and Obama is the only one with a viable exit strategy. These idiots who talk about the "surge" working leave out some important little details, such as the reason why violence is down is because we are PAYING these wonderful people not to kill us or each other. What a war: It's such a pathetic disaster that our only solution is put all these murderers on the American payroll, with U.S. taxpayers footing the bill for "insurgents" to stop shooting at us. This is victory? This is turning the tide in Iraq? It's a disgrace, that's what it is, and Obama needs to remind Americans what is really going on and what their hard earned tax dollars are paying for--instead of health care, instead of college educations, instead of a viable retirement program. The Iarq War is the single most disgusting American foreign policy blunder in the history of this country, and McCain is its biggest idiot cheerleader. He needs to be buried with this quagmire around his neck.

3. He is against a new GI bill that was supported by 77 Senators and provides the same college tuition money that WW II GIs received and that help create the middle class in this country.
As the son of admirals he only wants to reward people who choose to stay in the military for 20 years, when he knows that 75% choose to leave after 5 years or less. In McCain's world they are cannon fodder, not men and women who deserve generous benefits.

4. He has been Bush's lapdog, voting with Bush 95% in the U.S. Senate. Every one of those votes needs to be presented to the American people.

5. His message to Americans caught up in the mortgage meltdown has been simple: Drop Dead.
He has no sense of the economic challenges facing this country, as his solution is to provide more tax breaks to companies who use the increased resources to outsource jobs to third world countries, leaving Americans unemployed but enriching McCain's lobbyist friends who have been running and financing his campaign. He is a man who has no moral principles; he's a whore for the lobbyists and big companies who pimped Bush for 8 years before they rolled over and put their pants on and hit the streets to solicit McCain.

6. On health care he is equally ignorant, offering tax credits instead of a real program. Everyone knows tax credits simply help people who have enough money to buy things for which they will receive credits. He has no interest in helping people who cannot afford health care, the ones who are driving up costs by going without care, going to emergency rooms etc.

7. McCain represents a party that is mean-spirited and out of touch. The entire GOP congressional delegation doesn't include a single African-American, and their platform is riddled with hatred for pretty much everyone--Mexicans, poor people, black people, gay people, non-Christians--you name it, they hate it. Obama needs to capitalize on this by expanding his base, to bring in voters who have nowhere else to go. I mean, it would take a desperate "feminist" to vote for the anti-choice, womanizing McCain, but Obama needs to sell himself to those Hillary voters, and make them realize on their own that he embodies their values much more than the hapless and hopelessly out of touch fossil that is McCain, a relic of the past that has no place in contemporary America.

8. He says he wants to run a clean campaign, but McCain's plan is to let his surrogates convey all his racist, xenophobic nonsense; however, McCain's problem is that he is the dirtiest person out there, and Obama needs to let his surrogates go on the offensive against McStain and discuss his treatment of his first wife who waited years for the "hero" to return from Vietnam, only to be critically injured in an accident and have her "hero" husband start an affair with a woman 20 years younger while the faithful wife was seriously injured. Once he dumped his wife and married a multimillionaire who could finance his political ambitions, she had her own problems, as Cindy McCain was a junkie who illegally obtained narcotics and used political connections to avoid the prison term that any other person would have received. Then there was McCain's well-known affair with Charles Keating, a man who robbed the pensions of thousands of Savings and Loan customers, only to go to prison after leaving the poor elderly people destitute. Again, McCain bought his way out of prison, just as his adulterous wife did. This couple makes Billary look pious, and they want to gain the support of the Christian Right? Good luck when all this comes out...McCain has also been trying to hide the fact that he has no religious affiliation, which is fine--with Democrats. Indeed, McCain represents everything the GOP base despises and that's why nearly 30% of the primary voters were showing up to vote against him even after he won the nomination. The bottom line is that he is a weak candidate who only won the nomination because his opponents were a hypocrite Jesus freak with an 8th grade education named Huckabee and someone who wears "magic underwear." Now, McCain is in the big leagues and he looks as out of place as Macbeth as Birnam Woods approached: "Now does he feel his title hang loose about him, like a giant's robe upon a dwarfish thief."

"The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue" (Bob Dylan)